As filming continued at the Brisbane, Queensland set, director Taika Waititi, through his elaborate social network and aided and abetted by photographer Daley Pearson, shared a few behind the scenes images featuring the likes of Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston wearing less ostentatious, ‘mortal-garb’ (translation: “civvies”) as they milled about a manufactured New York City. What’s especially interesting is the very first image. Thor holds a card denoted with the following address: 177A Bleecker Street. If you’re a comic fan, you KNOW that this Thor: Ragnarok image implies Doctor Strange, which could potentially beget, yes, a Doctor Strange appearance! OBSERVE!
Again, if you’re a comic fan, you’re very, very familiar with the aforementioned address: this is the location of the good doctor’s Sanctum Sanctorum, a place where Strange stores his magically inclined artifacts, and from which he defends humanity from darker, malicious entities bent on….misbehaving.
Let’s get on with it.
Thor: Ragnarok takes place after the events in Doctor Strange, meaning the good doctor’s properly inserted himself into the MCU, and has accumulated a bit more experience wielding that once unruly, mystical mumbo jumbo. In fact, I’m pretty sure the reason Thor and Loki are looking for the good Doctor is his ability to travel distances through the manipulation of dimensional portals. I mean, Thor has to visit Hel and freaking outer space, so mystical forms of dimensional conveyance are pretty much a necessity.
Could the above image be the death of infrastructure due to Doctor Strange’s recent conflict with Kaecilius, the big-bad in Doctor Strange’s first filmic adventure? Perhaps!
So, what do you think? Are we going to actually see Doctor Strange, or is this just a healthy nod to his existence in the ever-expanding MCU?
Directed by Taika Waititi, Thor: Ragnarok debuts November 3rd, 2017, starring Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Sir Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie), Karl Urban (Skurge), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), with Jeff Goldblum (Grandmaster) and Cate Blanchett (Hela).
